ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The mufti of Iraq’s Sunni community accused Shiite militia groups of massacring the country’s Sunni population, saying the militias are “no less dangerous than ISIS.”
“In Iraq there isn’t a genuine government, but there are 32 militia groups that have taken over the country and kill the Sunni population in the name of fighting terrorism,” Rafi al-Rufai, Iraq’s mufti said at Cairo’s al-Azhar University Thursday.
“The threat of these militias to Iraq isn’t any less than ISIS,” he added, referring to the Islamic State that controls most of Iraq’s Sunni heartland.
Speaking at a two-day conference on terrorism in the Egyptian capital, al-Rufai urged countries of the region to “take substantial steps to combat terrorism.”
International human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also expressed concern about revenge attacks by the Shiite militia and members of the Iraqi army against the Sunni community.
“These militia groups kill people based on identity,” said al-Rufai. “It has reached a point where Sunnis don’t dare to name their children Omar.”
The mufti claimed that the Shiite militias are “agents of Iran” and that they hang posters of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over the homes of Sunni people.
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